


Love and all its rites

by sleepymoon



Category: The Old Guard (Movie 2020)
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Established Relationship, Fluff, Immortal Husbands Joe | Yusuf Al-Kaysani/Nicky | Nicolò di Genova, M/M, Mentioned Nile Freeman, Nicky and Joe being soft, Post-Movie: The Old Guard (2020), Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-28
Updated: 2020-09-28
Packaged: 2021-03-08 02:08:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 821
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26698006
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sleepymoon/pseuds/sleepymoon
Summary: Nicky bends his neck and lays a tender kiss in the hollow of Joe's navel, right over his bellybutton, the spot where nine hundred years before the blunt, unforgiving edge of his longsword had killed him the first time. Joe squirms, stomach rumbling with laughter. "That tickles," he tells Nicky, fingers digging into his lover's strong biceps but not pushing him away.
Relationships: Joe | Yusuf Al-Kaysani/Nicky | Nicolò di Genova
Comments: 22
Kudos: 206





	Love and all its rites

Nicky bends his neck and lays a tender kiss in the hollow of Joe's navel, right over his bellybutton, the spot where nine hundred years before the blunt, unforgiving edge of his longsword had killed him the first time. Joe squirms, stomach rumbling with laughter. "That tickles," he tells Nicky, fingers digging into his lover's strong biceps but not pushing him away.

Nicky smiles, kisses the same spot again before letting Joe's hands draw him upward and closer. The pads of his fingertips skim Joe's pulse point at his throat, right where his second kill was committed, a dagger slashing brutally into the taut, exposed skin. His mouth soon follows that very same path with an outpouring of frantic, trembling kisses.

"Nicky, hey. Amore mio, va tutto bene?" Joe asks, his voice almost unbearably gentle as he gathers Nicky close in the circle of his arms, nudging his nose against his forehead.

"Yes," he answers, too quick, then he pulls away with a defeated sigh. "I don't know. It's all a mess, isn't it? Andy is- Andy is mortal."

"She is, yes. It's just as you said, 'If now it's Andy's time-'"

"I know what I said," Nicky snaps back, irritated. "I know. But Joe, fuck. Booker is gone, and now we're going to lose her, too. She's our sister."

"We did not lose her, yet. She's still here with us, with Nile. We have many years left to spend together. And as much as I'm angry with him, Booker will come back."

Nicky lets his eyes drift close for a moment as Joe cups the back of his head, his palm resting where his skull had been fractured open by the shot. His hair is still slightly damp from the shower, and it curls wetly around his ears. "And what about us?"

"What about us, my love?" Joe echoes back.

"I know we've had more time together than anyone else could ever hope for, but I'm selfish. My heart has loved yours longer than any heart has ever loved another, but it's still not enough. It can never be enough. I want ten thousand more lifetimes to share with you."

"And I want the same," Joe says. "Besides, my heart has certainly loved yours the longest, for I have loved you from the very first time I laid eyes on you."

Nicky laughs at that, the sound echoing off the walls, sudden and incredulous.

"As I recall, the first time you laid eyes on me you ran me through with your scimitar. Then you smashed my head with a rock when I refused to die quickly enough."

Joe nods along, his smile soft and complacent. "True. And yet, as your eyes undid me back then just as they undo me now, I swear I have been yours ever since."

Nicky shoots him a pointed look, then shifts his weight on the bed until he's straddling Joe's lap, Joe's hands coming to rest warm and steady at his hips.

"Undo you, really?"

"Mm-hmm. Yes. Utterly and completely."

Nicky is just about to finally close the distance between their lips when a sharp knock on the door makes them both pause and turn in its direction.

"Guys, be ready in 10," calls Andy from the other side. "Nile booked us a table at the Italian diner down the street."

"Excuse me!" Joe calls back just as loud, pretending to be outraged. "We could have been in the middle of sex, you know."

"Please, as if I didn't know that your foreplay literally takes ages. Stop declaiming sonnets to each other and get dressed."

They can hear Nile snickering from behind the closed door, and Nicky starts laughing too, unable to help it.

Joe rolls his eyes at him, flicking him playfully on the nose. "Rain check?"

Nicky nods. "Rain check," he confirms, and makes to pull a clean t-shirt over his head. His abs flex with the movement, and the next moment Joe is tackling him down on the mattress, pressing his face into his lower belly and starting to recite very passionately and very loudly, "Oh, Nicolò, dearest, my one true love. I will live in thy heart, die in thy lap, and be buried in thy eyes!"

"You guys suck!" Only Andromache can manage to sound so pissed and so fond at the same time. "Just for that, dinner is on you. And you should know I'm starving."

Joe sits back on his thighs and grins down at Nicky, who's flushed and still shaking with laughter.

"We should go. If she really gets too hungry, she might start stabbing people," Nicky says.

"I heard that!" calls Andy, making both their grins grow wider.

"She's okay, Nicky," Joe tells him in a whisper, reaching out to tuck a lock of stray hair behind his ear, and it feels like the truth, a promise. "You'll see. We're all going to be okay."

**Author's Note:**

> Amore mio, va tutto bene? : My love, is everything okay?
> 
> Not beta'ed, so please let me know if you spot any errors.
> 
> The title, paraphrased, comes from Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing, as well as Joe's quote.
> 
> I can't believe it took two canon gay immortal husbands for me to finally write something again. A round of applause for Nicky and Joe, everyone! 
> 
> Thank you for reading! <3


End file.
